The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a meeting for April 4 to discuss a preliminary inspection finding about River Bend, the St. Francisville, Louisiana, nuclear power plant, with officials representing Entergy Operations Inc., the plant’s operator.
On March 9, 2015, the plant experienced electrical and mechanical equipment problems that triggered a loss of control building ventilation. While the NRC was looking into the plant’s maintenance practices, inspectors determined that the licensee had not adequately assessed the risk of some maintenance actions. While preparing to work on equipment that air conditions the plant control room, they did not accurately assess the associated risks, which include failure or malfunction of some vital plant equipment.
The NRC rated the inspection finding as white on its color-coded scale, which starts at green, representing a low safety significance, before progressing to white, or a low to moderate safety significance, yellow and red. The white finding may trigger additional oversight, including additional inspections, and regulatory actions, though the NRC has not made any decisions on the finding’s final safety significance.
The meeting between NRC and Entergy officials will take place on April 4 at 1 p.m. in Arlington, Texas, at the agency’s Region IV office. NRC staff will be available for public questions after the business portion of the meeting is complete.
